CIRCA 1760

This particular form of chair known as a 'cockpen chair' became popular from the second half of the 18th century. Initially it was the overwhelming interest in chinoiserie promoted by William Chambers' Designs of Chinese Buildings (1757) and Charles Over's Ornamental Architecture in the Gothic, Chinese and Modern Taste (1758), subsequently followed by designs for Chinese lattice-style chair backs with straight legs by the celebrated London cabinet-maker, Thomas Chippendale (d.1779), published in The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director (1762), plates XXV and XXVII, that made such chairs fashionable. The name 'cockpen' entered the vernacular in the 19th century and seems to originate from Cockpen Church, Midlothian, where similar chairs were made for the family pew of the Earls of Dalhousie. Closely related examples can be found at Saltram, Devon (H. Avray Tipping, English Homes, period VI, vol. I, 1926, p.170, fig.256), and Badminton House, Gloucestershire (Country Life, 9 April 1987, p.131). A pair of Scottish cockpen armchairs of similar form attributed to Alexander Peter, circa 1759, are in the Dumfries House 2007 catalogue.